The 20th Century
"Every Civilization, born like an animal body has just so much energy to
expend...space and time widen to weariness. In the midst of triumph,
disenchantment sets in among the young. It is as though with the growth of
cities an implosion took place, a final unseen structure, a spore-bearing
structure towering upward toward its final release. I am one of the world-eaters
in the time that my species has despoiled the earth and are about to loose its
spores into space. When the swarming phase of our existence commences, we
struggle both against the remembered enchantment of childhood and the desire to
extinguish it under layers of concrete and giant stones. Like some few persons
in the days of the final urban concentrations, I am an anachronism, a child of
the dying light." Loren Eisely. The Invisible Pyramid. 1970
The 20th Century was the century of domination of planet earth by a single
species. Human activities have become all pervasive and clusters of human
constructions have replaced the natural world in all habitable regions of the
planet. Human events are deeply troubling overall but at the same time, much has
been accomplished in reaching for a sustainable, good life for some.
The 20th century will be remembered as the century of waking up to the
universe as it is. We woke up to our own nature and responsibility and can no
longer plead ignorance. Humans changed the face of planet, drove animals and
plants into extinction, invented hydrogen bombs and other sophisticated killing
machinery. Humans fought wars, experimented with different social, political and
economic models of society. We survived two world wars and the threat of nuclear
annihilation.
Of all human folly, American-Russian roulette was the winner in the insane
game category, mutually assured destruction with hydrogen bombs. The bombs have
not gone away and the threat of horrible destruction will recur unless a new
international government order is successful in creating a more rational and
compassionate world with enforceable laws against killing and habitat
destruction.
We have experimented with international coalitions and dreamed of a
benevolent world government but human nature, so far, prohibits the realization
of the dream. We understood that persistent and unreasonable conflict is
characteristic of humans. Humans have proliferated beyond reasonable numbers and
despite amazing advances in science and technology; we have not achieved
sustainable levels of population, food and energy production. Our
infrastructures are temporary and vulnerable.
Most reasonable people now know that we can no longer rely on our instincts
and let nature take its course. Nor can we carry on with outdated social,
religious and economic ideologies based on misunderstandings of human nature and
planet ecology. We have to become better informed and more deliberate. We
have to think ourselves out of some dangerous predicaments and we need new ideas
of social organization. We need to teach each new human that arrives on the
planet how to transcend innate behaviors that are self-destructive and harmful
to our species.
The character of the 21st century will be dominated by unsustainable
population growth and migration, conflict, climate change, accompanied by shifts
in wealth, power and influence. Recurrent human conflicts appear to be
inevitable and challenge the most intelligent humans who imagine relief from a
long history of the human abuse of humans.
Some humans have become better informed, more realistic and more deliberate
in their analysis of human affairs. Others, including leaders of important
countries, appear to remain ignorant of human nature and repeat old strategies
of intervention that have failed before and will fail again. You can argue that human rights and lawful conduct are obvious and desirable
goals, but in practice, humans are critical, argumentative, and competitive;
they cannot agree on a universal definition of rights and lawful conduct.
The 21st century philosopher's task is to update our descriptions of
ourselves to accommodate burgeoning scientific knowledge and an increasingly
sophisticated understanding of human behavior, the brain and complex systems in
general. We suddenly have new and revolutionary knowledge about human beings,
their languages, arts and culture; about information gathering, storage and
retrieval; about computation, communication; about the transformation of energy
and materials; about molecular biology, genetics and the evolution of life on
earth.
We have to re-examine what we care about and advance new vocabularies that
allow us to proceed into new domains of thought and understanding. There is a
lag in the assimilation of new knowledge into the culture and a rapidly widening
schism separates the few who know how things really work and the majority who do
not. In this 21st century the rapid development of science, communications and
culture exchange is unprecedented in the history of the planet. The smart,
kind-hearted subtype of humans has flourished despite the persistent presence of
crude-thinkers and killers. The smart kind-hearts have powerful tools to shape
the future in a constructive manner.
Actions required to solve the most threatening problems are:
- Reduce population growth
- Reduce air and water pollution
- Regulate resource depletion
- Reduce burning of fossil fuels
- Eliminate poverty and malnutrition
- Stop habitat destruction and extinction of fellow creatures
- Defend against emergent diseases
- Stop global warming
- Eliminate nuclear weapons
- Eliminate biological weapons
- Stop humans killing humans
- Promote civil societies
- Develop renewable sources of energy
- Rebuild energy and communication infrastructures
